Nagpur (Maharashtra): Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday said every Indian should have some basic awareness of the country's traditional knowledge base. He was speaking at the inauguration of the Aryabhatta Astronomy Park at Kanholibara in Nagpur district.
"Everyone should have at least some basic knowledge of what we have in our tradition, which can be gained through the education system as well as through general conversations between people," he said. Historically India possessed a scientific approach of looking at things but with invasions, "our systems got destroyed and our culture of knowledge got fragmented," the RSS chief said.
If Indians explored their traditional knowledge base and found what is acceptable for the present times, "many problems of the world can be solved with our solutions", he said. The world outside is possessive about knowledge, he said, giving the example of some countries claiming to be the birthplace of Yoga, and even patents being filed there to acquire proprietary rights on it.
"Knowledge is to be given to the wise seeker. Knowledge should reach all," Bhagwat said. But as others seek to appropriate knowledge, it is important that we at least know what our traditions contain, he said. India's traditional knowledge base is vast, the RSS chief said, adding that some of our ancient books were lost while in some cases people with vested interests got wrong viewpoints inserted in ancient works. The syllabus prepared under the New Education Policy includes some things which were missing earlier, Bhagwat said. (PTI)
